Dancing to favourite beats may reverse signs of ageing

By

29th-Aug-2017

Share

Comments

Life Desk :Want to stay young for long? A daily bout of physical exercise, especially dancing, can help reverse the signs of ageing in the brain as well as delay the onset of age-related diseases like Alzheimer's, according to a study.It is known that physical exercise has the beneficial effect of slowing down or even counteracting age-related decline in mental and physical capacity.However, the new study demonstrated that dancing has the most profound anti-ageing effect on the brain in the elderly.It also helps increase balance as well as improve sensorimotor, visual and vestibular information - the three involved sensory systems.While "physical activity is one of the lifestyle factors that can counteract several risk factors and slowing down age-related decline. I think dancing is a powerful tool to set new challenges for body and mind, especially in older age", said lead author Kathrin Rehfeld, from the German centre for Neurodegenerative Diseases, Germany.Balancing is an important everyday function, crucial for social mobility. Impaired balance often results in falls, which constitute a major health risk factor with consequences both on morbidity and even mortality) as well as health care costs.For the study, published in the journal Frontiers in Human Neuroscience, the team recruited elderly volunteers, with an average age of 68, who were assigned either an eighteen-month weekly course of learning dance routines or endurance and flexibility training.The traditional fitness training programme conducted mainly repetitive exercises such as cycling or Nordic walking but the dance group were challenged with different genres such as Jazz, Square, Latin-American and Line Dance.The results showed that both groups showed an increase in the hippocampus - region of the brain prone to age-related decline and is affected by diseases like Alzheimer's.But "it was only dancing that led to noticeable behavioural changes in terms of improved balance", Rehfeld said.- IANS | London

News Archive

Inside The New Nation

THE Nation celebrates 'Amar Ekushey' today with due solemnity and colourful festivities to remember the Martyrs of the 1952 Language Movement. It is a landmark occasion and a day of awakening in the history of Bengali people that gave us the clear realization that we have our own language and ...

US President Donald Trump signaled support Monday for improving background gun checks amid mounting pressure for reform in the wake of the Florida school shooting, as the accused gunman appeared in court.Nikolas Cruz, charged with killing 17 people, sat silently with his head bowed during a procedural hearing in Fort ...

PTI, Kathmandu : Nepal's new Prime Minister K P Oli has said he wants to deepen ties with China to explore more options and get more leverage in his dealings with India "in keeping with the times". Mr Oli, widely regarded as pro-China, also said he wants to "update" relations with ...

Nidhhi Agerwal who hails from Bangalore and is living independently in Mumbai currently believes Deepika and Anushka's journey to the top has inspired her a lot. Just like the other two Bollywood divas, Nidhhi also went through her part of the struggle to make it to Bollywood. The young actress ...

Parineeti Chopra, who will be sharing screen space for the first time with Akshay Kumar, says she is excited to work with the superstar in Kesari.The film, being directed by Anurag Singh, will see Akshay essaying the role of Havildar Ishar Singh, while Parineeti plays his wife."(I) am very excited ...

THE UK government has fully withdrawn the two-year-long ban on direct cargo flights from Dhaka to London ending the plight of exporters, particularly garment exporters who were facing difficulty to make emergency shipment of samples and other cargo to buyers within the stipulated time. The British government said it is ...

Al Jazeera News :The Kurdish YPG fighters claim they have reached a deal to allow Syrian government troops to enter Afrin in the northwestern part of the border town.Nuri Mahmoud, a spokesman for the People's Protection Units (YPG), told Al Jazeera on Monday that they are calling on the Syrian ...

QUESTION leakage during the ongoing SSC examination showed that the government has no power and the Education Ministry has no control over the corrupt people handling the question papers. So far questions of all 10 tests were openly available around the examination centers in Dhaka city and other places from ...